Behind a Jane Goodall-like facade, Grizzly Man felt more like a biography that should be titled “Treadwell: Fanatic or Freak.” Though I was honestly touched by his concern for animals (and the adorable foxes), Treadwell possessed a sort of adult arrogance combined with a childish enthusiasm that I found reminiscent of a mental disorder.

The film itself focused a lot more on Treadwell’s personal life than it should have advancing the cause of the grizzly bears.As I stated above, it felt more like a biography than a documentary.

Another thing that piqued my interest was T~’s* repeated use of the phrase “I’m… protecting these bears.” I was always left wondering “what did you actually do to protect them, aside from harass some fisherman?” In this way, the film turned into a sort of cynical joke for me.

Cinematographically (i think i butchered a few words…) , I felt the editors lingered a bit too long on a bunch of scenes. I mean, come on, you want us to stare at that autopsy guy staring back at the camera for a good ten seconds? Or watch T~’s girlfriend torn by sadness as the camera zooms out? Honestly… learn to edit. Oh and I think the film would have had a greater effect if the narrator didn’t have such an accent.

Overall, I don’t think Grizzly Man had as profound an effect on me as An Inconvenient Truth. Plus, I think T~ began to lose credibility after his “well, **** you, park service, you ****ing ****ers. **** you” rant.

And apparently it got an A- from critics on Yahoo! Movies?… wtf… overrated…

This guy was like the PG-13 version of Steve Irwin: Crocodile Hunter… on drugs.

—

*T~ = Treadwell… I got lazy typing it out.

Wordpress requires two basic components to run: PHPz and MySQL. PHP is a webpage development script that generates everything you see. MySQL is the database that stores what PHP regurgitates into your browser (like posts, name of your blog, etc). TCNJ has the capabilities to run PHP, but does not have a MySQL database solution. They’re supposedly working on it, but a) that’ll take time, b) it won’t be for the masses. Yes, I know that last point sucks.

The solution requires using a “Remote” MySQL database, hosted by someone that isn’t TCNJ. I got mine from http://www.freemysql.net/v2/, but anything that works is kosher. Once I made a database and had its URL, I could plug it into my Wordpress “wp-config.ini” file. I pasted the location of my database into the line: “define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);,” replacing ‘localhost’ with ‘[...].FREEMYSQL.NET’.

The remainder of the installation was about as typical as could be. If you have nothing to lose, and half an hour of free time, I highly suggest giving it a try. Having a content management system like Wordpress makes it A LOT easier to update your site with new posts. I don’t know why TCNJ is lacking in this regard… Maybe so the IMM kids are forced to code from scratch *shrug*

Until then, cheers!

… Okay, so maybe I lied about the second, but the first part is true.

My friend had a first generation iPod nano (ca. 2005) that had a broken Hold switch, rendering the entire device useless to input. He entrusted it to me, knowing full well that I’d have an equal chance of fixing it as i would breaking it (smart man…). Using only Youtube videos, I embarked on my adventure.

The iPod is a pretty awesome piece of engineering, even the first generation. It’s engineered with a remarkable level of precision, with tightly mapped chips and ingeniously thought out solutions to minimize complexity/bulk. This is purely speculative, since I never bothered finding/reading technical documentation on it, I’m pretty sure they used copper foil as a grounding contact for the clickwheel instead of having to design something more complex to connect to the motherboard. And they also used open contacts to connect to a simple speaker glued to the inside of the metal backplate, sparing the need for wiring… or it could just be a round heatsink.

But anyways, my steps taken:
1) Remove backplate by inserting knife between metal backing and bottom connector plate.
2) Unscrew motherboard, 3 screws.
3) Pry battery from front face cover, pry LCD screen from front face cover. Pull out ribbon cable for click wheel from motherboard.
4) Remove the motherboard/screen/battery assembly. Pull LCD from motherboard, there are clips holding it in place.
5) Once the hold switch is revealed, solder in a grounding bridge to bypass it.
6) Reverse steps, except bending in the case clips that hold the iPod together.

The entire operation is straightforward, but the complexity and tininess of it all add up to a big headache. But it’s all still rather fun, and satisfying when you figure out that you didn’t brick it. I’d definitely give this a try if you had nothing to lose.

Cyber Acoustic, however, is not a brand in the same class as Logitech, Altec, and Bose and it is *almost* readily apparent why. At extremely low volumes the left channel cuts out before the right. It’s something I’ve also noticed on a cheap, decade-old set I’m using downstairs. Not sure why, maybe they’re a little less stringent on making sure volume controls are identical for both channels.

Also, I have the impression that the range of the speakers isn’t properly balanced. True, this set is light-years better than a set without a sub. But having a sub doesn’t guarantee good sound. It seems like the ranges of the satellites and the sub don’t overlap too well, leaving the mid-tones washed out. I could tweak iTunes to compensate… but I’m not quite that desperate.

The wiring situation is tolerable, though could be better. The wired control puck-thingy can’t be detached from the sub, so that’s one extra wire you have to worry about when moving the sub. It also meant I had to pull out my desk to get the puck behind it, and on top of my desk instead of being able to snake a wire down. The satellites are both connected to one plug, like Siamese twins, so they will always have to travel together.

But like I said, with 50% off this week at Staples, I’d be hard pressed to even *find* a 2.1 speaker system from other manufacturers for the price so I can’t complain too much. It’s a much better fate than those poor dorm saps who still listen to music through laptop speakers.

Click Here to view on Youtube and rate.

TCNJ Bookstore Costs (new): $907.25

Already have “Adv. Eng. Mathematics + Soln. Manual”
Amazon & Half.com Costs for the remaining 5 books (new): $423.76

Is it just me, or is the TCNJ bookstore just rape-in-a-barrel?

2) Bowl something higher than a 200. Heck, an even 200 would be fine

3) Gain 6 lbs. Muscle or fat, it makes no difference to me, so long as my pant size stays ~30 .

4) Exercise at least every other day… maybe run. (loosely related to 3)

5) Smear my glorious victory in Michelle’s face. (definitely related to 3)

6) Improve my archery, so that I can hold my own against Trench.

By the end of College:
7) Shoot a gun. Small-caliber is fine. Anything bolt-action, not so much.

Before 30:
Fly a plane. Like one of those combat simulation gigs. Skydiving is a close second.

9) Get a pet and name him/her “Creature.”

And… I’m not thinking past then right now. *done being bored*